The CEO's Rejected Wife And Secret Heir novel Chapter 68

Chapter 68: Chapter 68: The Cancelled Trap

ARIA’S POV

"What?" Damien grabbed the phone, his face draining of color as he read. "That sick fuck."

I couldn’t breathe. My chest constricted, the room spinning. "He... he knows. He knows what we."

"Security sweeps this house daily," Damien said, but his voice had gone sharp. Dangerous. "There’s no way he could."

"Then how does he know?" My voice came out shrill. I pressed my hands to my face. "How does he know we had sex? How does he know about the park, about everything?"

Damien was already moving. He grabbed his phone and made a call.

"Get me a full electronic sweep team. Now. Every room. I don’t care what time it is—get them here in the next ten minutes or you’re fired." He ended the call and turned to me. "Get dressed, we need to check this room ourselves before they arrive."

My hands shook as I pulled on my clothes. The beautiful evening we’d shared suddenly felt contaminated.

"Where would he hide something?" I asked, wrapping my arms around myself. "Where do we even start?"

"Smoke detectors, electrical outlets, anywhere with a power source." Damien was already examining the smoke detector on the ceiling. He pulled over a chair and stood on it, unscrewing the cover.

Nothing.

He moved to the nightstand, checking the lamp, the clock radio. I started on my dresser, pulling out drawers, checking behind picture frames.

"This is insane," I muttered, my voice breaking. "We’re tearing apart my own bedroom because your psychotic brother."

"Found something."

I spun around. Damien was standing by the bookshelf near the window, holding something tiny between his fingers. Even from across the room, I could see the small lens glinting in the lamp light.

A camera.

My stomach heaved. I pressed a hand to my mouth.

"That was..." I couldn’t finish the sentence. My knees buckled, and I sank onto the edge of the bed. "That was pointed at the bed."

DAMIEN’S POV

Rage unlike anything I’d ever felt consumed me. Pure, white-hot fury that made my vision narrow to pinpoints.

Marcus had watched us. Had watched me make love to Aria. Had seen her vulnerable, exposed, trusting.

I crushed the tiny camera in my fist, not caring that the lens cut into my palm. Blood welled up, dripping onto the hardwood floor.

"Damien, your hand" Aria started.

"There are probably more." My voice came out strong. I moved to the other bookshelf, running my hands along the spines. "He wouldn’t just plant one."

"Stop." Aria’s voice was hollow. She hadn’t moved from the bed, her face completely white. "Just... stop for a second."

I turned to look at her. She was hugging herself so tightly her knuckles were white.

"He watched us," she whispered. "Your brother watched us have sex."

"Aria"

"Don’t." She held up a shaking hand. "Don’t tell me it’s going to be okay. Don’t tell me we’ll handle it. Just... answer one question."

I waited, my bloody hand clenched at my side.

"Are people in your family all fucking lunatics?" Her voice cracked on the last word. "Is this genetic? Because if it is, if there’s even a chance Noah could turn into—into that."

"No." I crossed to her in three strides, kneeling in front of her. "Noah has your heart, Aria. Your kindness, your strength. He’s nothing like Marcus or my father."

"But you share the same blood." Tears streamed down her face. "You and Marcus. You grew up in the same house, had the same father, and he turned into a monster who plants cameras in bedrooms to watch his brother have sex. What kind of sick, twisted."

She broke off, pressing both hands over her mouth like she might be sick.

"Marcus was always different," I said quietly, my chest tight. "Even as a kid, he hurt animals. Manipulated people for fun. Father saw it as strength, encouraged it, but by the time he was thirteen, he’d done things..." I swallowed hard. "Things that made even Father uncomfortable."

"What things?" Her eyes searched mine. "What did he do?"

"That’s not important right now."

"The hell it isn’t!" She shoved at my chest. "Your psychotic brother has been watching us! Watching me! Watching our son! I deserve to know exactly what kind of monster we’re dealing with!"

A knock at the door interrupted us.

"Mr. Blackwood? The sweep team is here."

I stood, my jaw clenched so tight it ached. "Come in." 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

Four men in black tactical gear entered, carrying equipment. They moved efficiently through the room, scanners sweeping every surface.

"Found another one," one of them called out. He was pointing at the smoke detector I’d already checked—apparently I’d missed a secondary device hidden in the mounting bracket.

"And here." Another tech held up something from behind the dresser mirror.

By the time they finished, they’d found six cameras and four audio devices in Aria’s bedroom alone.

Six.

Six different angles of our most intimate moment. Six recordings of Aria’s pleasure, her vulnerability, her trust.

I was going to kill him. Slowly.

"Check every room in this house," I ordered, my voice deadly calm. "Every closet, every bathroom, every inch of this property. Find them all."

"Yes, sir."

As they filed out, Aria stood on shaking legs. Her face had gone from white to gray.

"I need..." She swayed. "I think I’m going to be sick."

She ran for the bathroom. I heard her retching, the sound tearing at my chest.

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